Kennedy Center

7 years ago

De Niro, Springsteen Honored

Ron Sachs, Pool / Getty Images

This weekend, a surprise list of star performers celebrated Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, director Mel Brooks, jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, and opera singer Grace Bumbry at the Kennedy Center Honors. Three hundred guests, including Jack Black, Edward Norton, Sting, and Martin Scorsese, attended a reception in the East Room of the White House to celebrate the occasion. "I think when all my awards go to eBay, it will be the last," Brooks said of his Kennedy Center medal. President Obama quipped that "I think I had a fake ID" when he went to see
Blazing Saddles at age 10, but luckily, "the statute of limitations has passed." Former president and saxophone player Bill Clinton offered a heartfelt toast to Brubeck, whose music "utterly captivated" him from the first time he heard it in concert at age 15.